Discussion for article #229377
âextraordinary effort in the line of duty.â
âŚbut couldnât put forth enough effort to show up in court.
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Thereâs a non-trivial co-relation between dismissals for police officer witnesses failing to show up in court for evidence hearings and incidents of said police officers having breached the constitutional rights of persons facing the charges that are the subject of said hearings.
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How extraordinary can it be for arresting someone on a damn pot possession charge? Oh wait, this is Ferguson, so maybe he was commended for not killing the suspect while attempting to make an arrest. Really though, how many other cases will now be disposed because this little chicken is afraid to do his job, which he is still being paid for while being on a two month long vacation, because he is afraid to show up in court?
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Iâm sorry â if Wilson is on paid administrative leave, but doing no actual work ⌠then, on the one assignment he actually has to do, he doesnât show up? Isnât that grounds for terminating the paid portion of the leave, at the very least?
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I agree, but in this case, everyone is bending over backwards for the officer. I strongly believe that he should get treated fairly no matter what, but I also believe the deck is well stacked in his favor. Given the DAâs personal and professional history, I canât see even the slightest chance heâll get indicted for anything. If heâs truly innocent of wrongdoing, this puts him in the unenviable position where no one will believe it because of the favoritism. He may have been better off with an independent prosecution where the public would agree with the result either way.
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So this guy was arrested in Feb of 2013 and it just came to trial now? How does this square with the the 6th Amendment call for a speedy trial.
Also how do you give an award for something that hasnât really happened in this case?
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Even if he is let off, there is no way in this small town that Wilson will continue working on that force, because no one is going to trust this entirely skewed process, especially after all of these leaks have gotten out, which by the way is very illegal when a grand Jury is in session.
The people of Ferguson have been paying this guy for a two months vacation, and have had to endure this constant pro Wilson drip, drip, drip. I am totally convinced that the powers that be, both in that town, and my entire state, have been totally inept at handling this entire mess, and yes I mean even the Dem Governor that I voted for twice, and am now thoroughly disgusted with, and they are not helping themselves, or the town, by treating the blacks in Ferguson as if they are too stupid to see what is going on, and it is going to come back to bite them.
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Can we have some info on the dismissed case that earned him an award? How about some trivial facts about that caseâŚpleaseâŚanyone? What was the âfelony drug caseâ all about? Why would this officer get a commendation? What did he do in the case that made him so extraordinary?
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Wilson will just go to some other fiefdom in St. Louis county
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if you want information like that, youâll have to go to a news site. Donât expect it at TPM.
The Feb. 2, 2013 incident began when Wilson got a call about a suspicious vehicle that may have been involved in a drug transaction, the report says. When Wilson arrived, two men in a PT Cruiser got out, and Wilson said he smelled marijuana. He then talked to Brooks and Erik C. Johnson, 28, of unincorporated west St. Louis County, and handcuffed them. Trouble started when Wilson asked for Brooksâ keys so he could search the car. Brooks refused, Wilson tried to grab the keys, and Brooks slapped his hand away, the report says. Wilson eventually got the keys, and pushed or pulled Brooks to the ground when Brooks refused to get down. Wilson wrote that he later found bags of marijuana and a bag containing 10 pills. An addendum to the report says Brooks admitted selling marijuana to support his family, and planned to sell the pills.
Wilson requested seven charges, including three drug charges, as well as resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Johnson has also been charged but has not yet been arrested.
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Yep, St Louis County is about as bad at dealing with this problem, as the Vatican was at handling their pedophile priests. They just keep moving them from one precinct to another, and hope no one notices. That is after all how Wilson ended up in Ferguson, after his former force was such a racial discrimination mess, that they were totally disbanded as a force.
So his âextraordinary effortâ was manhandling a couple of unarmed guys once they were in handcuffs.
Also, was Brooks obligated to give his keys to the officer? Could he not refuse and force the state to get a warrant to search the car? Of course they would have gotten it eventually, but Iâd like to know if roadside vehicle searches are compulsory.
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I know what you mean. I live in one place and see cops from the neighboring place stop and/or arrest people all the time. Pretty high at the beginning of the month and the end.
I believe that during Bushâs reign of terror on this country, you know when we were losing all of our rights because of those scary terrorists, that the SCOTUS did hand down a decision giving cops that right merely on a âreasonable suspicionâ. Since Wilson was called to that scene, because the caller said they suspected a drug transaction, all Wilson had to do is say he âsmelledâ marijuana.
Yes and Brooks [Defendant] has accused Wilson of excessive force.
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When Wilson did not arrive for the preliminary for this case, it was reported there may be as many a 9 other cases that require WilsonâŚWonder how many of those include excessive force?
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Read the Post-Dispatch story. Iâm sure youâll all be shocked to discover that Wilson claims the accused assaulted him by slapping his hand away when he was trying to grab the keys to is car and the accused claims Wilson beat him after he was restrained and in custody.
The guy was arrested for having a bag of pot with some pills in it that the police report claims he claimed he was selling. Thatâs the big important drug bust that got Wilson commended by the Ferguson white citizenâs city council.
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Reasonable suspicion alone is still not enough to do a search. Under the Supreme Courtâs 1925 decision in Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925), the cops can search your car if they have probable cause to believe it contains contraband on the theory that a) there is a lower expectation of privacy in a car being driven on the public highways and b) there are âexigent circumstancesâ making it impractical to get a warrant, mainly the risk that the car can be driven away in the time it would take to get a warrant. Under Fourth Amendment jurisprudence going back many years, âexigent circumstancesâ meaning circumstances that make it impractical or dangerous to wait for a warrant can serve as a kind of substitute for the warrant requirement as long as there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.
âReasonable suspicionâ and âprobable causeâ are very different standards. âReasonable suspicionâ means a suspicion that has a logical reason that can be articulated. On the basis of âreasonable suspicionâ that criminal activity is afoot, the cops can stop you, pat you down for weapons and ask you what youâre doing etc. âProbable causeâ means specific information indicating that a crime has been committed or is ongoing.
The problem is that the smell of weed is probable cause so all a cop has to do is claim to have smelled weed, and he gets to search your car.
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Clearly Wilson has a habit of claiming that a suspect has somehow attacked him. He sounds like quite the corrupt prima donna. It would of course help to explain why Wilson would not have wanted to show up to testify in this case, and I wonder how many others will be dismissed, because he will not show up in court due to other claims of police brutality? Did the police chief not say that there were never any claims against Wilson for police brutality?
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